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Battlelore's fourth album (2007).

It's surprising that Battlelore actually managed to disappoint me this far into their discography, but I had naively held out hope that this most recent release would build on the comparative success of its predecessor and become the first I could consider at least mediocre, or better still, actually quite good. What we have instead is an even more melodic effort than previously, one that abandons the last strands of power metal that were never really there to begin with, and one that seems to be targeted more towards fans of Evanescence and other dull rock bands that attempt to combine Slipknot-style heaviness with a female singer.

The cover art is nice, but there isn't a lot more than can be praised about this latest effort, despite the band's claims prior to its release that it would be even more "epic" than their earlier work. Epic is a term that's too frequently applied to metal bands without any real, comparative reasoning, but Battlelore's dull-riff-centric brand of metal has never struck me as epic in the same way as something like Bathory or Summoning, or even to a lesser extent bands like Blind Guardian and Rhapsody in their more bombastic moments. If anything, there's an even greater tendency towards these commercial guitar riffs here than ever before, in songs like 'Summon the Wolves,' 'The Cloak and the Dagger' and 'We Are the Legions,' the latter of which mistakes fast drums for heaviness, and the band still doesn't have what it takes to create a truly strong acoustic song without wimping out and evolving 'Longing Horizon' into their usual Evanescence style towards the end.

I really can't see where Battlelore are heading with this release, but it's not going to be anywhere particularly inspiring, considering the numerous chances they've had over their career to make their sound a lot more entertaining and convincing. Tomi Mykkänen is even less prominent here than on the last album, losing the battle for vocals against Kaisa Jouhki who even comes first in the album for once (makes a change, right girls! Etcetera), and I can only predict the male vocals eventually being phased out completely as Battlelore becomes even more of an Evanescence clone. I don't know why I bothered this far, to be honest; at least fantasy fans have the excuse that they enjoyed the lyrics.

1. House of Heroes2. Ocean's Elysium3. Summon the Wolves4. We Are the Legions5. Into the New World6. Longing Horizon7. Mask of Flies8. The Cloak and the Dagger9. Beneath the Waves

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Disc #1 Tracklisting1 House of Heroes2 Ocean`s Elysium3 Summon the Wolves4 We are the Legions5 Into the new World6 Longing Horizon7 Mask of Flies8 The Cloak and the Dagger9 Beneath the Waves10 Doom and Oblivion (Bonus Track Limited Edition)11 The Tale of the Downfall (Bonus Track Limited Edition)